Tag: Lord Oates

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the current food security situation in Ethiopia.

Baroness Verma

We are extremely concerned about the impact of the current drought on the food security situation in Ethiopia. A joint Government of Ethiopia and UN assessment is underway and we are in touch with our UN and Non-Governmental Organisation partners on the ground to determine the extent of need.

In October, the Government of Ethiopia announced that about 8.2 million people are in need of emergency food aid, up from the 4.5 million estimated in August. The number of severely malnourished children under five years old admitted to therapeutic feeding programmes this year has increased notably.

Britain has acted quickly and decisively by providing emergency support for 2.6 million people. This includes food aid for 2.1 million people for a month. The Government of Ethiopia has also committed its largest ever response to a drought. The international community will need to work hard with the Government of Ethiopia to prevent the crisis from worsening in the coming months.

DFID is at the forefront of resilience work to reduce the impact of crises in developing countries. In Ethiopia, DFID’s Productive Safety Nets Programme (PSNP) has helped turn desert land into land that can be farmed again.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how, and to what extent, they are working with other donor governments to address the current food shortages in Ethiopia.

Earl of Courtown

Britain is working closely with the Government of Ethiopia and the international community to ensure adequate funding for drought response activities. Britain’s overall funding for the drought to date is £113 million, making the UK the second largest donor.

In December, the Government of Ethiopia and the United Nations launched an appeal for 2016 to fundraise $1.4 billion (~£923 million) to respond to the drought in Ethiopia. By the beginning of March, 53% of the required funds have been raised.

DFID is an active participant in donor coordination fora in Ethiopia, including Ethiopia’s Development Assistance Group, and works closely with other donor governments to monitor the response and to lobby for support from the Government of Ethiopia and UN appeal.

DFID Ministers have discussed the drought at the highest levels with the Government of Ethiopia. We have been working closely with the Ethiopian Government to support their leadership of the humanitarian response. To date, the Government of Ethiopia has allocated $381 million (~£269 million) to address the crisis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of climate change on the food security situation in the Horn of Africa.

Baroness Verma

DFID is committed to supporting vulnerable people affected by food insecurity in the Horn of Africa and to supporting governments in the region to anticipate and mitigate the impacts of the climate on food security.

Making a robust assessment of the impact of climate change in the horn of Africa is challenging due to data limitations., The UK is undertaking a range of research that seeks to strengthen our understanding of climate in the region which will in turn assist with improving our assessment of likely impacts and working to help improve the early warning tools. For instance in Ethiopia through our support to ClimDev, DFID has supported the strengthening of Ethiopia’s hydro-meteorological network enabling more accurate measurement and prediction of extreme weather and flooding.

However, we know that the Horn of Africa is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and disaster resilience work is crucial in mitigating effects. In Ethiopia, DFID’s Productive Safety Nets Programme (PSNP) has helped turn desert land into land that can be farmed again. In Kenya, the Hunger Safety Net Programme has helped to protect household assets of the poorest people in Northern Kenya and can scale up to protect those at risk from droughts and floods. This helps families recover more quickly and get back on their feet. DFID is at the forefront of resilience work to prevent and reduce the impact of crises in developing countries.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2016-04-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Prime Minister last visited Africa to promote trade, investment and economic development; which countries he visited; and when he next intends to make such a visit.

Lord Price

Details of ministerial visits overseas are published on a quarterly basis and can be accessed via the gov.uk website. For security reasons, the Prime Minister’s engagements are announced as and when appropriate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2015-11-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average time it takes HMRC to respond to written communications from (1) small businesses, and (2) personal taxpayers.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not collect data in such a way that the average waiting time for responses to written communications can be calculated. The performance is measured as a percentage of post cleared within 15 and 40 working days of receipt. HMRC has published the information on the performance results including post turnaround in the Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15.

HMRC’s data on response times for written communication cannot be easily analysed by customer group.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2016-04-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Chancellor of the Exchequer last visited Africa to promote trade, investment and economic development; which countries he visited; and when he next intends to make such a visit.

Lord Price

Details of ministerial visits overseas are published on a quarterly basis and can be accessed via the gov.uk website. For security reasons, the Chancellor’s engagements are announced as and when appropriate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2015-11-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of what is an acceptable average period for (1) small businesses, and (2) personal taxpayers, to wait for their calls to a government department to be answered.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

HM Revenue and Customs has a target to handle 80 per cent of call attempts to their contact centre helplines. It also aims to answer calls within 5 minutes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2016-04-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they are giving to the government of Ethiopia to encourage the development of a strong private sector able to sustain economic development and employment.

Baroness Verma

The UK Government supports the Government of Ethiopia’s vision of becoming an industrialised, resilient country that is less reliant on aid. DFID Ethiopia is investing in an exciting portfolio of programmes to help deliver this, underpinned by rigorous analysis of the key constraints to growth and private sector development.

DFID is helping to create 45,000 jobs and raise the incomes of 65,000 people through our support to key Ethiopian priority sectors; increasing the availability of financial products to 350,000 people through support to micro-finance institutions and banks; and helping to increase incomes for over 1.4 million households by providing land certificates to farmers.

We are also supporting the Government of Ethiopia to use its own resources well to encourage growth and private sector development. We will provide technical advice on public investment to help the Government improve the effectiveness of its spending. This will include bringing in more private sector finance over time, for example through Public Private Partnerships– i.e. a contract between a private party and government which can bring additional financing as well as expertise. In addition, our work on tax will help the Government meet its revenue targets, improve the business environment, limit corruption and increase transparency.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2015-11-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to ensure equality of treatment for mental and physical illness.

Lord Prior of Brampton

We have put into legislation through the Health and Social Care Act 2012 that mental health should have equal priority to physical health. We have also committed NHS England through the NHS Mandate to achieve parity of esteem between mental and physical health.

We are implementing the first waiting times targets for mental health services to ensure more people have timely access to care in the same way they do for treatment for physical health. We have also increased access to talking therapies through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2016-05-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report of the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges in February 2015, Exercise: The miracle cure and the role of the doctor in promoting it, and how that assessment has informed their policy making.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The evidence and messages in the report of the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges align with the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ (CMOs) guidelines for physical activity and Public Health England’s physical activity framework ‘Everybody Active Every Day’ both of which highlight the key role of health professionals in promoting physical activity.

The Government is committed to raising awareness of the UK CMOs guidelines and the benefits of physical activity amongst the public and health professionals. The CMO recently launched a new infographic specifically designed to help health professionals to discuss the benefits of physical activity with their patients. The Government also has in place a range of other programmes to support doctors in the promotion of physical activity. These include e-learning modules on physical activity and health, undergraduate training resources for medical, nursing and allied health professionals and Public Health England’s Clinical Champions Programme. Physical activity is also embedded in NHS’s risk reduction services such as NHS Health Checks and the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme.